Students Helping Students Fund

Who better than a school full of social work students to lend a
hand in a good cause?

At the start of the fall 2013 semester, the cause was social
work students who might need a hand themselves, and, of course, the
students stepped up. The School of Social Work’s first-ever
Random Acts of Coffee challenge encouraged students (and faculty)
to donate an amount equal to a week’s worth of coffee
purchases to start a new fund called Students Helping Students.

The fund would help students through emergencies that might
otherwise disrupt their progress in the MSW program. When the
campaign ended, the challenge had raised $3,000.

Almost immediately, sadly, an MSW student needed help the fund
could provide.

Second-year student Tabatha Lumley, an immigrant from Jamaica,
lost her sister, Kadijah, in a traffic accident caused by a drunk
driver in Rochester, N.Y. Lumley was preparing to take out a loan
to pay for airfare to Jamaica for Kadijah’s burial when a
classmate discovered her plight and asked the fund to step in.

So now, while Tabatha is still burdened with the loss of her
sister, she doesn’t have an extra loan to pay back, as well.
She’s the first student the fundraising helped. There will be
a next, and a next so long as life goes on.

If you want to help make sure the fund will always have
resources to cover the needs, you can pitch in. You don’t
have to be a student, you just have to care.